Ikea Hack: Tailored Pillowcase Tutorial

I love a lot of things about Ikea, but there are a few things that just don't work well in Australia with Aussie products.

I bought an Ofelia Vass quilt cover this year, and I LOVE the simplicity and clean lines, but not the size of the pillowcases.

Now this might be just because I normally buy cheap polyfill pillows, but I'm sure I'm not alone in doing this.

The good old Tontine serves us very well, but they don't fit the Ikea pillowcases, not even close.

This is one of the pillowcases, with one of my regular pillowcases lying on top of it. There is a good 4 cm extra at either end and 2.5 cm on the width, and that's not a good look on my pillows.

Floppy looking pillows is not a look I'm going for.

This quilt cover set comes with four pillowcases, and I had already taken in a couple by running them up the sides, but then I had the idea to put the extra size to good use, and make a pair of tailored pillowcases out of them.

This whole project took me less than an hour, even allowing for unpicking some sloppy sewing, which often happens when I get carried away with the brilliance of a new idea

Step 1

So to begin, find a standard pillowcase that you already own and know you like the fit of on your pillow.

This will be the template for how big this one will end up.

Step 2

Turn your Ikea pillowcase inside out and give the seams a good press.

This helps you see exactly how much room you've got to play with, and makes unpicking much easier.

Turn the flap which encloses the pillow over the top as well, so all the seams are exposed the whole way around.

Then unpick up the end of the flap, to open it right out.

Doing this tedious step instead of just cutting the seams off, ensures you don't sacrifice any of the extra size.

Step 3

Now because the ends of the pillowcase are much wider than the sides, I trimmed off  the extra length on the end so that the flange ends up being approx. 2.5 cm around all sides.

This also means that the flap can be extra deep, something I like on my pillowcases, as I think they never make them quite deep enough and the pillow inevitably slides out.

Step 4

Cut off and turn the end under twice to give a nice neat edge.

Stitch and press.

Step 5

Refold the end back over and stitch back down the way it was before.

If you are diligent, overlock your raw edges to prevent fraying. And I am always diligent ;)

Step 6

Turn your pillowcase right side out again, press, paying careful attention to getting the seams nice and straight.

Lay your standard pillowcase over the top of your Ikea one again, and eyeball the edges all around to check that you have an even border.

Step 7

Now we're going to make this ordinary pillowcase into a super elegant tailored one!

Mark your corners with a fabric marker.

Mine has about 4 cm all around, so I'm stitching that distance away from the edge.

Step 8

Separate the top layer from the back along the edge where the pocket is.

Stitch through the top two layers from the dot to dot along this short edge.

‍

Step 9

Now you can lay the pillowcase out flat again, and stitch all the way around the other three sides.

Step 10

Your tailored pillowcase is now all finished, and is a much better fitting pillowcase, and an extra smart one at that!